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Cody Franson, who sits between Komisarek and Liles in the practice-rink dressing room, nodded as he provided a one-word endorsement of the assessment: “Jump.”

Legs and jump — this was dressing-room shorthand for speed and bottomless energy, both of which Liles had just displayed during the skate that preceded the team’s flight to Winnipeg for Tuesday night’s date with the Jets. The reality of Liles’ existence is that practice ice has been his only outlet for either of late.

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A little more than a year ago, Liles was signing a four-year extension with the Leafs worth about $16 million. Forget for a moment the relative merits of that contract and consider only Liles’ point of view. Valued as a long-term stalwart a short while ago, he’s spent a good chunk of this truncated season being treated like a liability.

It’s been 12 games since he found himself in the lineup in a 3-0 win over Ottawa. He’s been a healthy scratch ever since, and he’s not the only defenceman in Leafland who can be forgiven for feeling like last year’s news. Jake Gardiner, who made the team as a 21-year-old rookie in the autumn of 2012 and was heralded as “a revelation” by ex-GM Brian Burke, has played all of two NHL games this season, these on back-to-back nights in late January. In a year complicated by an earlier concussion, he’s been in an AHL holding pattern ever since.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence that both Liles and Gardiner are of a certain mould that doesn’t appear to fit the current coach’s ethos. They’re both quick-skating puck-movers known more for their finesse than their physicality. And if you had to point out a chief coincidental weakness, it would be their solidity, or lack thereof, in the Leafs end.

Perhaps it’s no coincidence they both were acquired — and, in Liles’ case, extended — when the Leafs management was heavily influenced by Ron Wilson, the run-and-gun-loving ex-coach. Gardiner’s acquisition was once justifiably heralded as a robbery; Toronto also got Joffrey Lupul in the deal that sent Francois Beauchemin to Anaheim. It became less of one, mind you, the night late last season when Wilson was fired; the Ducks, after all, gave up on Gardiner and Lupul when Carlyle was the man behind the Anaheim bench. If he wasn’t mourning their exit then, perhaps it’s no surprise you don’t hear him lamenting their absence now.

Carlyle has since acknowledged some regret over the way he treated Lupul in California. But it’s not likely you’ll ever hear Carlyle recanting his preference for defencemen who play a hard-edged, low-risk style than either of Liles or Gardiner. Witness the queue-jumping presence of the not-so-flashy Korbinian Holzer, Mark Fraser and Mike Kostka, all of whom started the season with the AHL Marlies and are now Leaf regulars.

“We have our challenges as a group to play to a tighter brand of hockey no matter who the opponent is,” Carlyle was saying Monday. “There’s no easy (games) in the NHL. If you ever start thinking there is, it’ll kick you where the sun doesn’t shine in a hurry.”

If the coach is looking for tighter, not looser, here’s a guess the free-skating, relatively small-bodied likes of Liles and Gardiner might be in tough to find their place in the lineup so long as Toronto keeps racking up points at a reasonable rate.

Gardiner, a flashy piece of untapped potential, stands as a perfect hunk of trade bait as the April 3 deadline approaches. Liles, at age 32 a trickier man to move, has at least been getting recent practice time with the second power-play unit, and there’s growing speculation he may find himself in a game in the days ahead. Still, the internal competition is fierce.

“You slip up, there’s a chance for (healthy scratches like Liles and Komisarek) to get back in the lineup,” Franson said. “It keeps us on our toes and mentally ready. . . . Otherwise, we’re going to be switching places.”

Franson definitely knows how it feels to be on the wrong end of the switch. Toronto’s top point-getter among blueliners with two goals and 14 assists so far this year, last season Franson often found himself as one of the odd men out of Wilson’s fancy, and he didn’t wear it well.

“Watching how (Liles and Komisarek) react to things, I know what I did wrong,” he said. “These guys stay positive and do the best they can to be involved. . . . I took my work home with me and I let it affect me at home. And it just kind of snowballed. You’re never really happy with yourself. You’re grumpy. You’re frustrated. But it doesn’t help you or the team.”

While Franson offered expansive takes on his discontent a season ago, Liles has been in no mood to brood.

“It’s the business of hockey. I don’t know. It’s not really anything you can put into words,” Liles said. “We’ve been playing well as a team, and when that happens, it’s not the easiest to jump back into the lineup. . . . It doesn’t get easier, that’s for sure. But you’ve got to keep going to work.”

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